Abby Buth
Mrs. Straub
Economics- A3
January 6th 2015
In the past Pewaukee has proposed to build a pool multiple times, each time being shot down. Swimming is the best sport to practice thanks to the resistance of water reducing pain in ligaments. The quality pool being asked for is surpassing the demand and interests of the people within the community. Some say that a pool is not needed, because of Pewaukee lake. This can be taken into consideration, as long as they also consider that THERE IS NO PUBLIC/ COMMUNITY POOL FOR PEWAUKEE.
Some believe that the pool would not be open to the public such as other clubs and hotels make you pay to enjoy the water. This misconception hides that a community pool can allow free open swimming, offer aquatic classes that have small fees, with discounts for seniors citizens.
Lifeguard training can be offered and increase safety within Pewaukee. Boy Scout merit badges can be taught by the numerous qualified instructors throughout Pewaukee. This is similar in the case of Girl Scouts, Venture Scouts, and Cub Scouts.
While the swimming teams will train for better performance in their sport we will see a decrease in transportation costs and the cost of renting the pool for the girls swim team located in St. Johns Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield. The current facility known as Gerber pool is owned by St. Johns Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, and is coming to the end of its useful life. The joint agreement between the District and the Academy is renewed yearly. Practices which occur at the pool are twice a day in August, and after school September through the middle of November the girls have to travel 20 minutes to participate in their sport. While in the past few years the team has not had as much success as in the past, they also do not have as much time in the water, partially because they are not able to practice before school as other teams are able to do. A pool can boost the talent and chances at earning awards.
Extracurriculars will not only see the boost in participation, but gym classes in Pewaukee School District can also benefit from an aquatic unit. Some adults in our own community do not even know how to swim a proper crawl/freestyle, much less backstroke/ back crawl, butterfly and breaststroke. And these people are frequently around Pewaukee Lake, a danger to their safety that they almost cannot avoid.
We look at this lake in the dead of Wisconsin winter and think, ‘nobody is swimming in that lake other than fish’ and while this is true, there also poses the threat and danger of someone falling in and not knowing how to swim or climb out of the freezing cold water, while someone who at least knows how to tread water or at least do a form of breaststroke to keep them above water until they receive help can increase their chances at a short, safe recovery.
The positive externalities of having a pool on the Pewaukee School District campus far outweighs the negative externalities.These positive externalities continue throughout sports teams. Not only can the pool be used by swimmers for practice, but for other teams for offseason training. To name a couple, swimming on the offseason for football players, along with soccer players is extremely beneficial for their overall performance. “Soccer players need to develop aerobic endurance to ward off fatigue. Soccer players can improve endurance by combining cardio sessions with strengthening workouts -- and swimming provides a sound option for cross-training purposes. Overuse and strain of lower-body muscles -- adductor muscles, quads, hamstrings, calves and feet – are the most common injuries in soccer players, according to “Women in Sport” by Barbara L. Drinkwater. A swimming workout can alleviate the stress on your lower-body muscles and joints and help to build your upper-body musculature.” (Tang)
Although the proposal was rejected in 2009, other facilities were still built. Looking at the image below from the Pewaukee School District public documents, The pool is a hearty cost but not even the most expensive, and is a one time cost other than maintenance. The cost of building such an investment would fall between the taxpayers, and Pewaukee School District, as well as other contributors. Yet this is similar to the proposal that was passed but did not make it past the voters in 2009.
The goal would be to plan, design, and construct a training and competitive swimming pool facility for the Pewaukee School District on the existing Pewaukee High School Campus. The new facility would have to be able to accommodate WIAA and Woodland Conference meets.
Works Cited
Sternke, JoAnn. "Qualified School Construction Bond "QSCB" Allocation." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 6
Jan. 2015.
Adding a pool would allow the Pewaukee swimmers to not have to travel as much. This would reduce transportation costs to and from the current pool at the academy. However, there are financial risks associated with the pool. In addition to the cost, if a child were to get injured in the pool after being left alone for too long the school could face legal problems that could be costly. With the pool being on a high school campus the school would most likely want to hire a high school student to lifeguard and they may not have as much experience as they need increasing the risk of a problem at the pool.
ReplyDeleteA pool at Pewaukee High School certainly does pose an interesting debate. On the one hand, many might say for the price of the pool to be installed and maintained on a year-round basis, the demand for such a commodity is not high enough. Although the installment of a pool may not be the priority of the school district or the community, I do agree that the costs that are cut with adding a pool for the transportation and other costs that swim teams must meet to compete could add up down the road. On top of that, the revenue that could be made from a pool through swim meets, swimming lessons hosted at the pool, and other events could essentially cover the cost that was needed to build the pool in the first place in the future. It is because of these benefits that Pewaukee should at least revisit the option to install a pool at Pewaukee High School.
ReplyDeleteThough a pool at Pewaukee would have some benefits, the extent to which you illustrate these positive externalizes is ludicrous. Obviously the pool in the referendum was shot down because the public viewed the costs associated with construction to outweigh the benefits that they would receive if a pool were to have been built. The rationality of the general public, as it always does, came away with the victory during the vote on whether or not a pool would be an overall benefit or burden on the community.
ReplyDeleteGetting a swimming pool for Pewaukee would be great however there are many downsides. Lots of kids don't want t have to swim in gym class especially since it would throw off our time schedule with changing and what not. Also that is a lot of money out of pocket for people that live in Pewaukee. Lastly, there is a lot of opportunity costs, such as someone will have to give up time of their day to go take care of the pool, costing the school even more money
ReplyDeleteWith the price of the pool, the demand for it to be built is not very high. But if you look at it in the long run, it would save Pewaukee a good amount of money in transportation as the swim team travels so much during the season. Having a pool could bring in money too, because it's adding another sporting event the school can make money from.
ReplyDeleteI find it shocking that the additions to the school cost as much as they did, so some extent. However, I feel that it was the right choice for the school, because it made it much more presentable, and of higher quality. Because I did not live here when before the school was renovated, I only saw a small portion of the old portions/construction when I was taking a tour here, so I cannot say for sure if the renovations were absolutely needed, but I know that they look nice and help the school achieve a higher reputation.
ReplyDeleteAbby, you bring up some excellent pros and cons of buying a pool for our school. Even if it was just a community pool, it would be very beneficial to PHS, as you stated. One of the points you brought up that I didn’t consider was how pools will benefit all athletes--not just swimmers. Even for the sport of swimming the opportunity cost for the team to travel to Delafield is practice time, something that could be reduced or eliminated. The pool could be used for team training or for recreational use. How fun would it be to instead have a Winter Ball dance, have a pool party in December! Although liability is an issue, there are also opportunities for learning about safety and getting licences to lifeguard. Overall, although expensive, a pool would be a fun addition to Pewaukee!
ReplyDeleteI agree that having a pool would be huge for the community and great for gym classes as well, however, i feel as though swimming is not as popular as all the other sports and that is why it is being shut down. The cost for it all is a hefty price as well. There are lots of ways to make money off the pool through swim lessons and open swims and whatnot and eventually that could pay for the pool but it would take a while. It is basically the only thing that isn't very well funded at pewaukee. Right now, i think the general public would say that the cost outweighs the benefits again and it would be shut down.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that Pewaukee should have a public pool. From your essay, I learned many more uses for a public pool than I previously knew. The cost however would be an increase in taxes in Pewaukee. That though is worth the cost with all of the benefits that could come out of a pool. Especially when the pool could be making money through classes and possibly renting it out for events like birthday parties.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post, as our district has been going at this referendum for a while. Ultimately, however, it is not the decision of the students of Pewaukee High, and rather their parents who are going to be paying the large amount of money for this addition. I agree with you in the light that it would have the benefit of hosting competitions and meets, and that it would provide necessary lessons for those who want to learn. But, as mentioned above, there are many negative externalities that just overpower the positive; like lifeguards, instructors, injury prevention, cleaning expenses, and more. Personally, I don't believe we really need a pool at Pewaukee because there are facilities in the area and the high school would save a lot of money in the long run.
ReplyDeleteHaving a public pool at Pewaukee would, in my opinion, definitely be an asset to the community. Although costly, the addition of a public pool would lessen the hassle for the high school's swim teams and allow more time for practice and improvement. Aside from those on the swim team, the benefits of having a pool would also extend to the other athletes at PHS as well. Upon injury, swimming would allow athletes to stay in good shape and get good workouts without being as limited to the equipment and movements they can handle on land. Overall, I think it's time that Pewaukee got a pool, most other communities have one and despite the high cost, I think it would be worth it in the long run.
ReplyDeleteGetting a pool for Pewaukee would be that the swim team wouldn’t have to practice elsewhere and they could practice at their own school. It’d also be very fun for gym classes to have a swim unit and for students to practice their swimming. But, it would be very expensive and would require a lot of construction. And, the school just went under a bunch of construction in the past years, so I don’t think a pool could happen anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice for the swim team to have a pool here, but you also have to think an=bout size constraints. where would it go? our campus is running out of free space at a fast pace. the bowling team would like to install 4-6 lane beds here at school so that we can have a home like many other schools, but people raise the fact of the matter that we don't have any space for it.
ReplyDeleteHaving a pool can be very costly especially if it is run all year and needs to be kept clean and heated. The overall cost of adding a pool as a part of Pewaukee would raise overall taxes on everybody due to the cost of keeping it running all year which can be very high. As well the school would need to get insurance on the pool so they are not completely liable for any accidents which can be add a lot of expense into the building for a public pool due to safety concerns and all the people who would be able to access it.
ReplyDeleteHaving a swimming pool would be a great way to get the community closer together and provide new activities. But when you look at the cost of building the pool and then the cost that it takes to continue to maintain, it almost seems like it would be a bad idea. Most of the community doesn't like the fact that the pool costs so much, hence the reason why it was denied in 2009. The people that want the pool should look at the long run and determine if the pool would be used enough to off set the cost of the pool.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you, and I'm glad someone brought this up. The benefits of the pool would have been great. Providing a fun, healthy, and safe (with life guards) facility students and the public could mutually enjoy. I'm sure they will decide to build one in the future, it just sucks I'm a senior and won't be around for it.
ReplyDeleteAbby, thank you so much for your interesting perspective on a pool in Pewaukee. You brought up many very interesting points, a lot of things that I never thought about. I believe that you are right. A pool in Pewaukee would have several economic benefits to it as well benefits for the community. I would personally love to have a pool, as I love to go swimming. One concern that was not addressed, that I believe many people in the community would be concerned about is health. Many community pools are viewed a cesspit for bacteria to breed. Therefore some people may be hesitant to agree to a community pool. Even if there was a pool in Pewaukee High School people may not go to it for this same reason and therefore it may not be able to cover its own funds. I also think that the money from the pool shouldn’t be largely from taxes. I think eventually it should become a self sufficient entity with maybe some help from tax money. Many people will not use a pool and therefore should not have to pay for it. Another point you brought up is that people are in danger if they do not know how to do a proper backstroke, freestyle, butterfly or any other swimming stroke. I do not think that is true. Yes people should have the ability to swim and to swim well enough to survive in the water but the specific mechanics of it do not really matter all that much. I do not know the ins and outs of almost any of these strokes yet I could still tread water just fine when it came down to it. Overall this was a great community orientated and great thought provoking read. Thanks Abby!
ReplyDeleteI was glad that somebody brought up the issue of the referendums that we have had lately. I think that the new gym/ auditorium that was put in was something that we truly needed to be able to continue to grow not only our sports teams, but the gym classes and school performances as well. As far as the pool goes I don't think that there is a need for the pool for what we would have to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Go Abby! I completely agree with you 100% that Pewaukee High School should include a swimming pool. I believe that the marginal benefits outweigh the marginal costs immensely. Yes, the cost to remodel the school to accommodate a pool is quite expensive, but money can be brought back by the possible classes that the pool may offer, lifeguard training, and so much more. Not to mention, the swim team will be extremely happy. And the high school might even consider adding a boys swim team as well ! The economics of it all point to a positive outcome. Maybe one day it will happen. :)
ReplyDeleteI have believed that Pewaukee High School needs a pool for a very long time. I personally believe that the school would make the cost to make the pool back easily. Many students more students would be in the athletic program. The school would also be able to hire students to be life guards. We've needed a pool for many years, and I think we will end up getting one eventually.
ReplyDeleteI think that Pewaukee should have a pool. As an injured athlete with many issues, going on a bike isn't possible for me, however swimming is something that you can stay in the same shape but with less impact. The whole cross country team and track team would benefit from a pool along with other sports. At running camps we participate it they do a lot of pool work outs to have less impact but challenging practices. Not only that, but my sister is in college and plays soccer and they did pool work outs almost daily and continued to do them after the seasons. The pool would not only bring in small fees, but it could also create life guarding jobs for high school students in the summers and winters.
ReplyDeleteI agree that having a pool in Pewaukee would be nice. There really aren't many pools in the area. However, building a pool would not be easy. They're very expensive. Pewaukee does not have much land to build a pool on. A community pool would be a nice idea, but I do not think that Pewaukee High School will ever have its own pool. However, taxpayers do not seem to want a pool and think that the opportunity cost is too great.
ReplyDeleteYou had a good topic to talk about. I myself wanted a pool because I was on the swim team. It would have been a lot better to build a swimming pool rather than a tennis court. No offense to all the tennis players, but I think if we had a pool instead of a tennis court, we would have a lot more members on the team. The pool can be used all year round. Compared to the tennis court can only be used in the summer; and that's only when it's not raining. Even though it would be costly, this would give not only the students attending the Pewaukee School District, but the community the ability to have swim lessons or practice at this facility. Maybe even rent it out for parties. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Pewaukee would benefit from a pool. The commute that both the boy's and girl's swim team need to make in order to practice everyday is appalling when most schools have their own pool in which practice times can be flexible for a swim team, instead of needing to follow another organization's schedule. I also agree that performance of Pewaukee swim teams will increase because of having our own pool, and also so that precious practice time is not lost through the commute to swim practice. One other thing that you did not mention that I think is worthy of note is that there will be lower risk on the school's part for swimmer safety. It is no secret that many of the swimmers drive themselves to and from practice everyday, this could result in a greater risk for car accidents and injuries to the swimmers, possibly forcing the school to pay out legal compensation.
ReplyDeleteHaving a pool would be an amazing thing for Pewaukee to have. Instead of the swim team having to go to a different school they could use their own school pool. Also when people are saying that they can use the lake that make no sense. Because the lake is only accessible during the summer time which is when school has not started yet. And during the winter time the lake is frozen which would not help the swimmer out at all. This blog post was amazing showing the positive benefits that the pool would bring if it came into the Pewaukee doors. Gym class would have a new unit, less transportation costs, and lifeguard training could be offered.
ReplyDeleteAbby this is a wonderful article that has truly sparked my interest on this topic. If Pewaukee ever wants to consider itself a top flight school within our area we must have an aquatics center to accompany our other state of the art facilities. Although I personally cannot swim I have always had an interest in learning how to properly swim, yet without an aquatics center I simply have no where I can conveniently learn. I would also like to point out that although the girls swim team has struggled as of late, top flight facilities attract top flight talent. I can personally speak on this because my sister has enrolled at Arrowhead in order to play at a state of the art softball facility with other talented girls. If Pewaukee were to invest in this aquatic center I firmly believe we would see a definite increase in talent for our swim team.
ReplyDeleteI think this topic is very interesting. You did a really good job of providing reason why the pool would be useful. I think the new gym has been a big success. It would be pretty cool if we also had a pool. You mention that this could be a community pool, which would be nice, but that means someone would have to pay lifeguards and maintenance workers. Is this included in the budget and who would pay them?
ReplyDeleteI think having a pool on campus would be a really cool facility to add to what we already have. However, what would the economic impact of adding a pool be? How much would lifeguards get paid and would people have to pay a fee to open swim? While having a pool on campus would be beneficial for many sports teams and people in general, would it be beneficial to the limited school budget?
ReplyDeleteI think adding a pool to the Pewaukee School District could add a lot of things to not only the students but to the community. While the pool could be attached to the high school, the rest of the schools in the district could share the benefits, similar to the way they share the auditorium and gymnasium that were recently built. Because Pewaukee is a small school, adding the pool could really open up a lot of opportunities for us that other schools our size, and even bigger, don't have.
ReplyDeleteI can see why the pool has been rejected all these times, it makes sense why it has. It would only benefit the swim team (specifically), whereas something like putting in new turf or a new track benefits more that just the swim team. This is probably put in comparison because they are all sports.
ReplyDeleteI’m torn between if I believe our school district should invest in an on site pool. Although it would cost a large amount of money, it definitely would attract more students into the swimming program. It also really doesn’t seem fair that the swimming teams have to drive twenty minutes away to get to their practice while other students need only walk down a hallway or two to get to theirs. However, I am not fully convinced that more students trying out for the team and a shorter commute is worth the cost of a pool. I feel that the negative externalities outweigh the positive ones. It does take quite a lot of money to keep up with a pool, while a new gym or new classrooms cost hardly anything to keep at a high quality after the first payment.
ReplyDeleteI think if Pewaukee would build a swimming pool it would only benefit the swim team. First, it would cost the school a ton of money to build and the school would have to start paying lifeguards if the pool was open the public or gym classes to make sure nobody drowns. Yet, it could be beneficial considering it could teach more people to swim but, I think the negative externalities outweigh the positive. I see your point about the 20 minute drive to practice is tough and leads to shorter practices but, the swimming teams aren't that big and unlike more than half the sports at Pewuakee all each team has to do is walk to a field or a gym. The cost of a field and gym are less expensive to build and maintain unlike a pool. By building a swimming pool it would only benefit the swim team and not Pewaukee High School.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that it would be awesome if there was a pool on campus and that it would open up a huge number of beneficial opportunities, I don't think that the positive externalities necessarily outweigh the negative ones. The pool isn't actually a one time cost; it costs money to fill and clean it, and for temperature control, especially if the pool were in a separate building. And there are safety hazards inherent in pools - people can drown or slip and hurt themselves, possibly in a way that kills them. The school already won't even officially let students be in a classroom without a teacher because 'what if something happens?' I can't imagine that the school would allow students anywhere near a pool without an official lifeguard or teacher or someone supervising, and even then people are still more likely to slip and get hurt. So a ton of safety precautions would be needed, all of which would cost money that would then not be available for other needs around the school, like lunches or computers or something. So I think the positive and negative externalities are more or less balanced. But I think the real question that needs to be posed is if the opportunity benefits make the opportunity costs worth it, which, in this case where the cost per area of the pool and that of the parts that were actually built was close to the same, comes down to how effectively such an investment would actually be utilized. In other words, how often would the pool be used? A pool would have been about half of the size of the entire new section of the school minus the classrooms, so to be worth the investment, the pool should be utilized about as much as a similarly sized section of that area. That section of the school is in use throughout the entire school day and then some. The only time I could see a pool being used is one class every other day if the school were to introduce a gym class entirely based on swimming, for a couple classes if the 'normal' gym classes were to have a swimming unit, and when the swim team does practice after school (and maybe before school like you said). I don't know how many people from the other sports teams would use the pool as well, but probably not that many or that often since they can't use the pool while the swim team does. So, the problem is that a pool doesn't have enough of a demand to justify the cost to build it, especially since there are people already criticizing Pewaukee for the tax increases that had to be made to help pay for the new section as it is. Therefore, I think the only way we're going to get a pool at Pewaukee is if a LOT more people suddenly decide to join Swim.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be an extremely popular topic among the econ classes at PHS. Great topic for a post, because it has everything to do with the school spending money. I know I've spent the last year and a half in a class with you, and a lot of what you talk about is swimming, a sport and hobby of yours. And a lot of the time, you talk about how much we needed a pool. After reading this, I am so on board for you. It seems like a great idea and you seem to have done lots of research. Great for you Abby! It just is a little disappointing that this is our last year, and you wouldn't be able to enjoy it much after this year because you'd no longer be in school.
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely surprised you chose this topic Abby, given our lengthy discussion over your yearbook quote ("We need a pool"). While I agree that I would enjoy swimming when I came back home to Pewaukee in a body of water not infested with seaweed muck and litter, the initial cost is quite high, and higher than the Pewaukee School District is willing to pay right now. the MArginal benefit for them is also lower than the marginal cost, making this project possibly one for the future, but not a near one.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is one that was heavily debated, as is shown in your post. It's interesting to hear the pros and cons laid out next to each other, especially when displayed next to the prices of each construction project. The school district clearly weighed the benefits and determined than an auditorium and gymnasium would be more beneficial in the long run as opposed to the pool.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. I like how you discussed the benefits of having a pool, such as lifeguard training and swimming classes. Additionally, I like how you added the chart that showed the prices. I agree that a pool would help the community greatly, but I think it is mainly the cost of the pool that is holding the school district back at the moment. However, the pool could be a possibility in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job listing the pros of building a pool, and brought up some great points, like swim lessons and life guard training. However, I think that the cost of building a pool would outweigh the benefits, and the pool would mostly benefit the swim team. I think that if Pewaukee raised enough money over time and didn't have to cut any school budgets because of it, it could be an option.
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